


Picking up the Pieces

by orphan_account



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Jessica Jones AU, M/M, Multiple chapters, Not Beta Read, This is my first work, and I don't know how to tag, the warnings will be on the chapters notes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-04
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-04 21:54:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5349857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jessica Jones AU</p><p>Barry went missing for nine months and when he came back, he came as a different person.<br/>What happened to him during the time he was gone? And who did this to him?<br/>That's what Oliver's been asking himself for a while now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Jessica Jones AU  
> In this Oliver didn't go with his father to the Gambit and didn't get stranded for five years; also here a few people have abilities, just like it's on Jessica Jones, so it's kinda normal for people to know that some people are different; and finally, Barry doesn't have superspeed in this, he just has the high metabolism and heals fast, and he got his abilities the night his mother got murdered somehow. And like in Jessica Jones, Barry will be a private investigator.  
> Barry is 24 years old and Oliver is 28.
> 
> So this is my first try at writing something, but I had this crazy idea a few days ago and I couldn't get it out of my mind so I though "what the hell, I'll just write something". Yeah, so don't judge too hard if I totally fail at this.  
> Btw, if someone have a better idea for the title please let me know 'cause I cannot name a thing and make it look nice. And English is not my first language so if there's any mistakes let me know too, etc.  
> Alright, if you read until here thanks for giving this a try and I hope you enjoy it.

Barry stumbled on Jitters' entrance doors, already knowing that he was about 20 minutes late for the meeting with his friends. He looked up and saw Oliver, Felicity and Roy sitting at a table in the back of the coffee shop looking at him with amused expressions and he opened an apologetic smile on his face as he walked closer.

"Hey, sorry guys I'm late... Again." Barry said as he sat down, mumbling something about how his alarm didn't go off the time he set it.

"Don't worry, Barry, we already knew you were going to be late." Oliver said and gave Barry his killer smile that always melted him. 

Oh, yeah, the brunette had the biggest crush on the older man for a while now. 

"And that's why we told you to get here three o'clock sharp, because we were actually meeting at three twenty, which is right now." Felicity explained, interrupting his thoughts.

"Wow, that's kinda rude." He joked, making everyone chuckle.

\-------------------------------------

They spend some time chatting and drinking coffee and after awhile they all stood up and said goodbye to each other.

"It was good seeing you guys here in Central, you should come over more often, you know?" Barry said as he opened the doors and stepped outside. "Woah, it's already dark. I didn't even noticed that." He thought out loud.

"Oh yeah, by the way Barry, can I stay at your place tonight?" Oliver snapped him out of his little daydream and caught him by surprise.

"Wh-What? I mean..." Barry blushed slightly "Yeah, sure you can, Ollie. Uh, I mean, Oliver. But where would you all..."

"No, no. Just me. Felicity and Roy are going back to Starling." Oliver cut him off and smiled softly, then glaring at the two of them. Who started to snicker as if they knew something Barry did not.

"Oh. No problem!" He said a little too excited, which got a grin from Oliver and more snickering from Felicity and Roy. 

"I guess we're going home, then!" The blonde woman exclaimed and grabbed Roy's arm, "Bye Oliver, bye Barry, good luck!" And she took off with Roy, leaving the two is them confused.

"Okay, that was... Something. Wanna go home now?" Barry tried to say something to make things less awkward.

"Yeah, sure. What's for dinner?"

\-------------------------------------

"Oh my god, Oliver!" Barry managed to say between laughter as he and the other man tried to cook.

"What? Why are you blaming me for this?" The older man chucked and pointed to the burnt pasta covering almost the entire stove, "How did you even managed to do this?" He asked, actually confused.

As he watched Barry completely lost himself in more laughter, Oliver couldn't hold back his smile and looked fondly to the man slumped on the kitchen wall trying to keep a serious face and failing terribly.  
The first thought that came into his head when he met Barry was how adorable and happy he looked, then he got to know the boy better and found himself falling in love with this cute, smiling nerd. When he told Oliver about his abilities, with this scared look on his face, like he though he was gonna be abandoned or something, the older man wanted to hug him so hard but instead he just smiled and said that it doesn't matter and he can't leave someone because of that kind of thing. The hopeful look on Barry's face told him that was the right thing to say.

"Ollie, I don't think I've got tomato sauce in here." He heard a voice over his thoughts and looked to where Barry was standing.

"What...?" He blinked.

"I'll go to the market down the block real quick and get us some, okay? You can stay here if you want." Barry said while picking up his wallet and cellphone. 

"Yeah, I'll stay and clean up this mess you made." Oliver smiled.

"You have my number right? If anything happens you can call me. I'll be back in like, ten minutes." The younger man winked and left the apartment.

It took about five minutes to clean up Barry's kitchen. And five more to finish boiling the pasta and prepare something nice. This is going like he planned somehow, Barry will enter through the door and they'll eat dinner and while doing so Oliver would ask the younger man out. Yeah, he wasn't nervous at all.  
It's been a bit over ten minutes and he pulled out his cellphone and dialed Barry's number.

"Hey, Ollie! I got caught up in the line" He heard a chuckle through the speakers, "There's so many people here! But worry not! I'm already leaving so I'll be there in, like, two minutes. Wait for me, bye!" 

Oliver sat on the couch and leaned back, looking at the ceiling, waiting for Barry to come back with the tomato sauce. He never thought twelve minutes could take so long.  
With that on his mind he immediately sat up straight.  
He looked at the clock on his wrist and saw the time. 8:48PM. It has been eight minutes since the phone call and he didn't see Barry anywhere in the apartment. Oliver could feel his concern for the younger man growing faster and faster by the second and dialed his number again.

Nobody answered.

Oliver stood up frowning and tried to call again... Nothing.

He picked up his jacket and Barry's apartment keys and left the building, finally feeling that something is wrong. He walked down the street until he saw the market and ran over there. He picked up his phone again and called Barry's number. 

Nothing happened. But he could hear the ridiculous tune from Barry's cellphone ringing somewhere.  
He followed the sound until he got to a small alley right after the market. And there he saw it.  
He saw the light coming from Barry's phone on the ground, with the screen slightly cracked, and an empty plastic bag with a few cans of sauce that rolled out of it.

Oliver's stomach dropped and he started to panic and look around for something, anything, that'll help him find where Barry was.  
Just like before, there was nothing. And there was nothing he could do.

He ran to the CCPD and stumbled upon Joe, Barry's foster father. Shit.  
As Joe was about to ask what was Oliver doing there he saw the panicked expression on the mans face and frowned.

"Oliver, what the hell happened?" 

"I don't know... Barry just... Someone took him. I-I wanna fill a missing persons report." Oliver thought he was going to cry, he never would've imagined that wonderful day with the man he loves would end up that way.


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!  
> I hope you're liking this so far, I can't exactly tell you when updates are going to happen because I'm still writing this and I'm really busy this week and the next, but I promise that after that updates will come faster because my classes will be over (finally ffs) and I'll have more time to write this.
> 
> So yeah, I probably spend more time writing author notes than anything in this and forgive me for this??? I'll try to follow the plot from Jessica Jones (and btw if you haven't seen it yet you should totally watch it, it's really good) but there'll be some changes.

_Nine months later_

Oliver Queen has been visiting Central City once a week for nine months, all in hope of finding Barry once again. He didn't care anymore about how he would find the younger man, dead or alive (although he hoped he was alive, come on), he just wanted to _find_ Barry. So every Tuesday evening Oliver would drive to Central on his motorcycle, look for the brunette until nightfall and go to Barry's apartment to make sure things were okay in there.

He didn't know what happened this time but Oliver could feel that something was different, he didn't know what, but his instincts are not wrong on a daily basis. So after his ride around the city, as usual he went straight to Barry's apartment building. Still feeling some dread, he parked on the small parking lot outside and frowned, looking around for something out of place.  
Oliver entered the building and pressed the elevator button to the third floor. When the doors opened he could finally see what has been bothering him so much the whole day. The glass from Barry's apartment door was broken and it was obvious that someone did that to unlock the - currently open - door from the outside. Trying to be as silent as possible, Oliver walked slowly to the end of the corridor and held the doorknob tightly with his hand and closed his eyes, he counted to three silently and opened the door.

Inside the apartment was a mess, where the glass shards were there was small splotches of blood. Oliver got closer to look and it was wet, so whoever did this was probably still around. As he looked around with more attention he noticed that whoever broke in was stumbling everywhere before they entered the bedroom. Like before, he went quietly to the door and gripped the doorknob. He breathed in and out a couple of times and opened the door.  
Oliver didn't know what he was expecting to see, probably some creep stealing something but not this.

"Barry...?" He whispered, not believing what he was seeing.

Barry was passed out face first on the top of the bed. He was covered in dirt and... _blood?_

"Barry!" He couldn't control himself from shouting. Suddenly the younger man jumped awake and looked at him with eyes widened in _fear_. Oliver frowned at that and felt a little guilty. "Sorry! Sorry, I just... I'm just so glad you..."

He watched as Barry's face changed from fear to recognition and as tears began to fall from his eyes along with a unsettling smile opening on his face.

"I escaped, Ollie. I ran away from him. He's **dead** now." Barry kept repeating that sentence over and over while looking at his hands.

As Barry was lost in his own little world for awhile, Oliver took the chance to look better at the man sitting on the bed.

He did not look good at all.

His eyes looked hollowed and tired, with dark bags under them; his neck had a giant scar (he wondered about this one - how deep could one cut be to have scarred Barry, who had healing abilities?); his hands were shaking and bleeding because of the glass and as he keeps repeating that same sentence again and again his voice sounds dull. It was all wrong. This kind of thing never should've happened to Barry. _His_ Barry.  
Of all people, it had to be the brightest of them to lose their spark, that's not fair.

"Barry. Barry, stop. Look at me, I don't know what happened to you or who..." He trailed off. "Just know that you are back home, I'm here with you now and you're free from... him." Oliver tried to snap the other man out of his rambling, but found it kinda difficult since he doesn't know what really happened. His heart clenched at this realization but he had to keep strong for Barry.

"Free from him... Yeah, I thought that would never happen." Barry whispered so low that if Oliver weren't so worried about him, he wouldn't have heard. He got slightly confused by that, but decided it's not the best time to ask about it.

"Oliver, what are you doing here?" Barry asked quietly; and that was the moment when the older man realized that Barry was more broken than he let himself look.

"I- I come here check on your home every one in a while... Once a week actually. Uh..." He didn't really know what to say. 

Barry chuckled and for a moment Oliver saw the light that always used to be in his eyes. He smiled at the though and decided something.

"I'm gonna help fix you, Barr. Don't worry, you're not alone on this." Barry looked at him in surprise, "I'm not going to let you deal with what happened alone, got it? I promise."

"Thank you, Ollie." The younger man said, visibly less tense, "Really, thank you so, so much. But... I don't really think I can talk about it. I don't think I _want_ to talk about it ever again."

Oliver walked closer and sat next to Barry on the bed.

"You can't keep this all bottled up inside you, it's gonna kill you."

"One day I'll talk... Maybe..." Barry muttered, looking completely defeated, "Do you have like, booze around here? No, of course not. No one's been living here for..." He frowned, "H-How long...?"

Oliver closed his eyes. He knew this question was inevitable, but he didn't want to be the one to tell him. "Nine months."

He expected shouting, refusal to accept the fact that he's been missing for nine months, but he heard nothing. The older man opened his eyes and saw Barry looking blankly at the wall. He stayed like that for a few more seconds then he blinked and focused on Oliver's face again, opening a weak smile.

"Anyway, there's a store down the street that sells some booze. Can you buy some? The cheapest one or something." 

Oliver frowned at the question and looked at Barry with a lost expression.

"You don't drink." He blinked, "And when you do you refuse to drink more than one shot."

"Ollie, please. Just... Just buy me something to drink." Barry sighed and then muttered, " _I want to forget_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my god its so frustrating how when I look at my cellphone it looks like I've written so much but nooooo.


End file.
